TN CM urges Centre to withdraw import duty on cotton

Chennai, July 19 (KNN) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday reached out to the central government requesting removal of import duty on cotton to control the steep increase in cotton prices.

To mitigate the situation for the MSME sector, he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating high cotton prices, increased operational costs, including bank interest rates and poor demand has severely affected the sector.

The spinning sector, with 1,500 mills and around 15 lakh employees, was one of the vital engines of the industrial economy of Tamil Nadu, he said.

The sector was in “such a severe crisis that the spinning mill association declared a production stoppage from July 15, 2023 onwards.”

He said the repayment of loans provided under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to revive and rehabilitate MSME units following the Covid-19 pandemic has started, “which has become an additional burden on the spinning mills and increases the cost of production.”

Another significant price differentiator between India and its competitors internationally was the 11% import duty imposed on cotton.

He recalled having earlier requested for extension of the time for the cash credit limit of spinning mills to purchase cotton to 8 months from the current 3 and for the reduction in margin money sought by banks to 10% from the 25% of the purchase value.

He requested for more measures in the interest of the MSME sector, including withdrawal of the import duty on cotton, saying it will reduce the production cost significantly.

“I request the Union Government to provide financial support for MSMEs in the textile sector under ECLGS by extending the moratorium by one more year. Existing loans under ECLGS may be restructured, converting them into six-year term loans, and fresh loans may be provided under ECLGS, reducing the regular banking interest rate,” he said in the letter.  (KNN Bureau)